The document discusses the spread of Christianity in early America. It notes that the earliest settlers brought the religions of their home nations like Anglicanism. The Pilgrim Fathers established the Plymouth colony as Congregationalist Puritans seeking religious freedom. The Great Awakening of the 1730s-1750s saw influential preachers like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield preach to vast crowds and spark revivals across the colonies. Figures like Roger Williams established separation of church and state, allowing religious diversity and freedom to grow.

1. EARLY AMERICAN
CHRISTIANITY
Christianity Goes West

2. Devotional Text
 Matthew 10:23 (NCV)
 When you are treated badly in one
city, run to another city. I tell you the
truth, you will not finish going through
all the cities of Israel before the Son of
Man comes.

3. Results of the Reformation
 The Reformation took spirituality out of the
monastery and put it into the secular world.
 This new view of spirituality placed it within
the realm of the normal human being.
 It made it possible for one to be secular
and be a Christian at the same time.
 Work, on the economic front, was seen as
a blessing.
 The industrial revolution took a greater hold
in the places in Europe that were
Protestant than those that were Catholic.

4. Results of the Reformation
 The Protestant Reformation began the
democratic impulse in Europe.
 The dignity of the person was uplifted.
 Thus human rights began to be uplifted.
 Universities also began to become more
public.
 The common person was given the
avenue for self-development.
 Spread of capitalism and the Protestant
work ethic.

5. Devotional Text
 Jer 20:7-9 (NLT)
 O LORD, you misled me, and I allowed myself to be
misled. You are stronger than I am, and you
overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day;
everyone laughs at me.
 When I speak, the words burst out. “Violence and
destruction!” I shout. So these messages from the
LORD have made me a household joke.
 But if I say I’ll never mention the LORD or speak in
his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It’s
like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold
it in! I can’t do it!

6. Beginnings
 The birth of the Protestant Reformation
took place within two decades of
Columbus’ “discovery” of the Americas.
 Earliest settlers carried the religions of
their respective nations.
 There was a close relationship between
religious and mercantilist outlooks.
 Colonies viewed as means of bringing
wealth.

7. Beginnings
 There were Christians on the
American mainland before the Pilgrim
Fathers.
 Jamestown settlement in VA had
provision for an Anglican Church.
 Robert Hunt was an early minister
there.
 Due to the heavy preponderance of
English settlers, Anglicanism soon
became the dominant religion.

8. The Pilgrim Fathers
 August 1620 over 100 persons set sail
to America aboard the Mayflower.
 Mainly Congregationalists Puritans,
they experienced persecution in
England.
 They rejected the idea of an Episcopal
Church but were still uniform in faith.

9. Early Settlers
 Plymouth colony: mainly lower
classes. Not too skilled.
 Massachusetts settlers: mainly middle
classes. Educated Puritans who left
England because of the despotic rule
of Charles I.
 Middle colonies: Pennsylvania
colonists had religious toleration as an
integral factor.

10. Religious Freedom
 The Quakers, strong advocates of
separation of church and state, moved
there from Boston.
 William Penn had made Pennsylvania
a safe haven for those who needed
religious refuge.
 By the middle of the 18th century many
religious groups were found in
Pennsylvania.

11. Religious Freedom
 Roger Williams, came to America from
England.
 Though trained for the Anglican
ministry, held separatist views.
 Pastored in Salem, Massachusetts
until he was ordered out of the
territory.
 Williams believed in separation of
church and state established religious
freedom in Rhode Island.

12. The First Great Awakening
 This was a series of spontaneous
revivals held in rural as well as urban
areas in America between 1726-56.
 Two significant Great Awakening
preachers:
 Jonathan Edwards:
 Brilliant young preacher and
philosopher-theologian.
 A Congregationalist, Edwards held to
hyper-Calvinist views.

13. The First Great Awakening
 He held revival meetings in New
England strongly impacting many
between 1734 and 1741.
 In 1758 he became president of
Princeton.
 Edwards’ sermon Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry God is a good
example of his pulpit prowess.
 He place great emphasis upon God’s
sovereignty; Freedom of the Will.

14. The First Great Awakening
 George Whitefield: was a close
associate of John Wesley.
 Whitefield and Wesley, though close
friends, strongly disagreed on the
freedom of the will.
 Whitefield first came to America from
England as a Methodist missionary.
 He is known for his fine oratory skills.
 Whitefield preached around 18,000
times and to at least 10 million people.

15. The First Great Awakening
 Due to his commanding manner of
speaking, most churches, both in
England and America, were too small
so he tended to preach outdoors.
 He had a strong appeal to “heart
religion”.
 An itinerant preacher, he continued his
preaching tours up the close of his life.
 He is reported to have said; "I would
rather wear out than rust out."